Of a Winter's Night
by Zana Charleson
Summary: Theraflu, a laminating machine, and hair gel were what it took to get Aoko and Kaito to finally recognize each other, mix that with a little snow and you get a story of their first love. One-shot, fluffy, Aoko and Kaito.


**Hi… okay… I'm starting another story… and yes, I know I still have to finish a TON of my other stories… but the lovely Daydreamer1412 has challenged me to a theme challenge. The theme… Theraflu, a laminating machine, and hair gel. I decided this was a recipe for a good 80's story… frankly I have no idea in mind right now… so let's see how this goes.**

Colds are never, ever fun. I take that back, their fun when you're not quite that sick but you end up staying home anyway.

However, I was sick and had to go to the store to buy Theraflu. It was a rather new invention and cost extra money, but Dad insisted it will help me get better quickly. I'm not going to lie, I don't trust American inventions, be it Tylenol or Polio vaccines, after what they did to the country, I'm not likely to be accepting.

My friend Kaito though, he different, he's trusting of the westerners. I'm not quite sure why, but I think his father gave him that impression when he was young, before his father died.

I mumbled some more to myself as I unlocked the old red car my dad drove around town. The doors creaked open, as if holding a great burden, grasping at every last inch of strength it had to hold the door on its hinges. A loud groan emitted from inside the door. Sitting down on the worn white leather seats I slammed the door shut with enough force to rattle the barely screwed on inside handle of the door.

Turning on the ignition, the engine revved and then died. I tried again and again but the engine wouldn't start up. Getting out of the car I decided to look under the hood. I wasn't a very good mechanic but I knew when something was wrong.

Pushing my nails under the hood and pushing with all the force I could on the hood I managed to get the hood open a little, the rust caking the hinges holding the car's hood down prevented me from getting it any further. After my amazing feat of strength, war drums beat in my head creating quite an ache. I took a few breaths to regain my composure and to work on the car. What was I doing out here, after dark getting thermaflu which I didn't even trust! It didn't help the gang down the street seemed to be eyeing me up.

A hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder. My response was engrained in me and managed to trip up the person who grabbed me. I looked at the wet pavement which slowly trailed to the person I had flipped lying face down on the moist ground. He struggled to get up as he lifted himself using his hands but slipping and falling back on his chest after his hands betrayed his weight and shifted under him.

Everything in my body began to scream 'run' but for some reason I didn't feel like running, I felt like I knew the struggling man. Forcing himself upwards to face me I knew him instantly, Kaito. I felt a warm blush rush across my face as I helped him up off the ground.

Soaked in dirty water and gas from the cars that has driven by previously, he was not the ideal picture of cleanliness. Quickly he brushed off his now unfashionably ripped jeans, the looked at me and grinned with his childish grin. His arm automatically went to his head to smooth down his already messy brown hair.

"So, I see that you don't want me around, so I'll be going now." His leg swung around to make a 180 degree turn from me, heading off to where ever he was going. However, as any girl would ask in the middle of the night to a close childhood friend, I decided to ask why on this plant he had come to the local gas station in the middle of the night.

"Why are you here Kaito?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from wandering further off as he was known to do.

"Oh, well it's a funny story, I better get going…"

"No, you are staying here with me and telling me why you are here! Only an idiot like you would go to a rest stop in a bad part of town in the middle of the night."

"The same could be said of you." He casually injected. This statement simply ticked me off; who did he think he was! I'm asking the questions here!

"That is none of your business. "

"Then I have a right to be silent too, no?" Well, he did have a point…

"I'm getting Thermaflu because I'm sick… and you?"

"Well," he laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head "My mom got her hair caught in a laminating machine and she said the best fix for this in her experience is hair gel. Not sure how that works any better than a pair of scissors, but when I mentioned that she got mad and yelled that I 'didn't understand women'."

"Yeah, I understand your mom's deal with scissors but you weren't going to cut her hair off right?" I laughed and slapped his back hard as a signal to say no.

"Of course not!" He laughed nervously.

"Geze Kaito! You were seriously going to cut her hair!"

"Well, it seemed the easiest way out." He grinned his little boy grin as snow suddenly began to fall. I took my attention off the boy in front of me and began to look at the dark sky around me, illuminated by the flickering streetlights which gave a singular romantic feel the parking lot. Suddenly I became very aware of the fact that the tugs who were watching me previously were gone. I also became acutely aware that my cold symptoms were gone for some reason.

Suddenly he got down beside me and began to wave a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Aoko! Where did you go? One minute we were talking about hair gel then you just… disappeared!" When I finally acknowledged him he smiled contentedly and stood up, getting out of my face.

"Sorry, I just noticed it's snowing." I smiled and began to look at the snow, suddenly remembering that I needed to get out of the cold and get my Theraflu.

"I have I go." I said quickly, pushing thoughts of Kaito back to the back of my head and began to walk toward the department store.

He quickly grabbed my wrist as I began to walk in. "Let me come with you, I need to get hair gel anyways." He grinned again as a dove flew out of his pocket. Embarrassed, he grabbed his pocket. Doves had a habit of popping out of his pocket whenever he tried to talk to me. It was kind of cute.

"Sure, let's go." I turned heel and grabbed his hands with both of mine and pulled him, almost making him fall over.

"Idiot! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Quite possible." I smiled.

"Wait, didn't you already get your cold medicine, Theraflu thing?"

"Um, I guess I did." Blushing profusely, I was never going to tell him I was just trying to get away from him; I did after all have a stubborn streak in me.

"Idiot" he said putting a fist on my head ever so gently. I would be lying if I said I didn't like his hand being on my head, even if it was in a fist. I am still Aoko, normal Aoko would never put up with Kaito's childish play. So I pushed his hand off my head quickly, messing my hair up in the process.

Finally we got around to walking in the transparent sliding glass door, the electronic light bounding off its glass. Inside was what seemed like an eighties paradise of various knick-knacks and bright colors, leopard prints, and various plastic trinkets. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me through the aisles till we got to the hair product area. I blushed as I noticed he was holding my hand. Even if it was a tacky department store, this was a step in the right direction, but I'll never be the one to initiate, after all I am a girl.

Quickly he picked up a few bottles of hair gel. And tucked in in a basket he grabbed from the entrance of the store. He rushed over to the office section and grabbed lubricant and then went over to the register where the cashier looked tired, and young, most likely a college student like us. We were fortunate to have parents able to pay for our college, apparently this student wasn't so lucky. Suddenly I became aware once again that I was holding Kaito's hand. As if by electric shock, I pulled my hand back.

Kaito turned and looked at me, confused, he also seemed sort of hurt but whatever I saw on his face just then quickly vanished as he went back to paying for the hair gel. The cashier grabbed the gels and lubricants, putting them in a bag and handing it to him. Silently he stalked out, not looking back as he walked through the sliding glass doors. I quickly followed after him, scarcely making it though the sliding glass doors before they closed behind me.

"Kaito! Kaito wait up!" I yelled across the dark parking lot, he was already half way across, not a smart decision on his part due to the ice but Kaito never did go by logic as a guideline.

"What?" He yelled back at me, his voice sounded distant as a huge puff of smoke came from his mouth, suddenly disappearing in the air around him.

"Why are you running away!"

"I am not running away, you can clearly see that I am speed walking!"

"That factor doesn't change my question, why are you running away? I just let go of your hand in there and then your whole demeanor changed, I don't get it!"

"Figure it out yourself!" He yelled back at me as the continued to walk on. His foot prints leaving a indented trail in the newly fallen layer of snow. I scrambled to catch up to him, throwing my logic aside I ran after him. My feet whirred, lacking traction to run properly. His speed walking was fast enough to keep me at bay for a while, given my lack of ability to run correctly.

He kept his head low, looking only at his feet and trekking on; he was going to his mom's office. The plastic bag jiggled by his side, his hands in his pockets. No hood, light jacket, tennis shoes. He wasn't fit to be walking in this snow. I sighed loudly, breathing in the frigid winter air, catching my breath that stung in my lungs. In a last ditch effort I tried to run again with the unexpected propulsion of the ice beneath my feet, coating the concrete side walk.

My center of gravity vanished as I flew unexpectedly forward, half tripping half sliding and eventually gliding into Kaito who turned around just in time to catch the brunt of me shoving him to the ice covered ground. We slide separate directions as my head and back hurt from the impact and Kaito lay on his back, peacefully gliding along the concrete.

As I looked over I noticed how ever so dead he looked and began to panic, what if I had killed him, I would never forgive myself. Getting to my feet as quickly as I could I slide over to the now, not moving, Kaito. I dropped to my knees, my knee caps feeling the biting cold ice of the street. I looked down at this peaceful face, wondering if he looked peaceful because he had gone to the other side. I grabbed his shoulders and tried to lift his body up into a sitting position, my arms quivering under his weight. Still no movement.

I tried to check his pulse; his heart was beating but no breathing. I checked all vital signs, still no breathing. This wasn't good, he hadn't been breathing for quite some time now and if he didn't soon start to get some type of air in his he could die for real, instead of having a concussion like I suspected.

I looked at him, still not breathing. I had no choice, CPR it was. Pinching his nose in proper CPR fashion, I put my lips and began and blow. Suddenly I felt an arm grip around my shoulder, pulling me down with such force I fell on top of him. As in all shojo manga I ended up kissing him. This I found rather disturbing. I pulled back in shock as Kaito gasped for breath. He gagged, hacked, and wheezed then finally noticed I was on top of him, presumably I blushing furiously.

Finally after the hacking had silenced he looked at me silently. He seemed somewhat mournful, yet confused.

"What?" I retaliated to this look with anger beginning to well up in me. "You seem awfully confused for a person I just tried to save. What was that anyway?"

"I uh… tired to kiss you… you know, the kiss of life? Yeah didn't expect true CPR format from you." He seemed rather irate as a blush crossed his face portraying that he was embarrassed to say his intentions aloud. His hands which were firmly on the frozen concrete moved from the sidewalk to his chest portraying his frustration, with me and himself. His well-planned magic trick once again failed because of me.

"Well, I really thought you were going to die! I needed to save you." I practically yelled. I could hear my voice echo around me in the empty streets. A sudden force of freezing wind blew my hair in front of my face, forcing me to close my eyes until the wind passed. Snow flakes, once gentle began to hurt like miniature daggers. Funny how what seemed like a peaceful, even romantic scene can turn into something that portrays hurt and confusion.

"I know, I should have guessed you would take CPR seriously. I guess I under estimate you a lot." He smiled, this time a weak, feeble grin. He was trying to make me feel better, all he did was made me feel bad for his missed attempt because… once again, I did something he didn't expect. "You know Aoko, you make me break my poker face an awful lot for a girl."

Part of me wanted to take advantage of his weak state and say something like 'That's because you're a weak magician.' But I knew that would wound him in more ways than one. So I sat, silently shivering because of the freezing winds and snow I was sure was starting to coat me. We sat in mutual silence while the only thing said was by the wind barreling across the desolate streets.

Finally I decided to get up, tired of sitting on ice. My legs strained under me as I tried to regain my balance despite the lack of friction. My legs started to slide as I put my arms out for balance and managed to steady myself. Suddenly another strong gust of air forced me to fall into Kaito's lap. I warm blush once again crossed my cheeks as he looked down at me. He smiled his familiar boyish grin and scooted over to the frozen grass and helped to pull me onto the firm and frozen ground.

We gained our footing as we both began to shiver under our thin jackets. Neither of us was preparing to sit on the frozen ground outside for a while, but then neither of us was expecting the experiences that came about.

"Here." Kaito motioned to me, he looked like he was going to hug me, but then the warmth was welcome. I walked over to Kaito as he wrapped his arm around me. He wasn't much warmer than I was but the fact he was alive and had blood pumping though him guaranteed heat to come about soon.

My face buried in his snow covered coat as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He hesitated for a moment, then relented and wrapped his arms around me. His head came to rest on top of my snow covered hair. We stood like that for a while till it occurred to me that it was warmer inside the building. However, here seemed much warmer.

Suddenly his head moved from where it used to be and his arms moved from around me so that he stood in front of me. My body instantly hated not having him there. He took a tentative step towards me and his hand began to brush the hair out of my face. A string of hair once looped beside my eye was pushed away as a little shock made me jump from his careful actions. This must be how careful he was with his magic tricks, careful hands preforming the necessary movements to play out a trick.

He lowered to my face, planting a very gentle kiss on my lips, more of a bush than anything, but it was a kiss. It was pure, and from his heart that he quite carefully disguised so that even I couldn't read. At that moment he was honest and I wished for more of his honesty, but at that instant he moved away. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked at the ground, powdered with white glitter, making the scene once again beautiful and not angry or bleak.

He flashed me a childish grin as he laughed. "I can't believe I did that! Now don't go getting a big head Aoko! That was a once in a lifetime chance and you just missed what more could have been there!"

I felt my body heat go up again as I felt anger once again boil beneath my skin. How dare he be so romantic one moment then back to himself the next, it just wasn't right! I grabbed conveniently placed tree branch from the side of the building and began to chase him. "Kaito!" I yelled. We were back to earth once again like to two immortals, forever doomed to live amongst the earth, never becoming more than what we were now.

As we chased each other around outside of the office complexes, I didn't notice the careful eyes watching from the 9th floor. Leaning against the glass a woman with fiery read hair sipped her coffee and watched her son as he ran from his long time childhood friend.

~*~ Epilogue ~*~

She told me this series of events one day, long after they happened on my 2nd anniversary to Kaito. The story of the two, tied together by the red string of fate and how one December evening Hair gel, Theraflu and somehow, a laminating machine created the budding of young love.

I did eventually get better from my cold, I believe it was because of the cold air I had so much of that night. We eventually started dating, though Kaito denied that he made the first move when people found out at our school.

We began to fall in love that night, I knew I enjoyed his presence before that, and he, mine, but what awakened that night was true, was pure, and 100% the beginning of the story that soon became the story of our oh so unique love story.

**Thanks for reading! ^0^ **


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